“We are losing various types of retail, and they’re being replaced by night life that can afford higher rents,” Susan Stetzer, district manager for Community Board 3, told the Journal. “We’re beginning the conversation.…Can you have districts that will have night life in one area and permit diverse retail in other areas?”

The difficulty is both defining what constitutes a large bar versus a neighborhood haunt — the city only mandates that bars that hold more than 200 people be limited to commercial zones — and managing their presence in a neighborhood that already has bars on practically every block.